Hauling out

 I had phoned Tim Loftus as we sailed towards Rubha Reidh on Wednesday, and told him we would be arriving in Ullapool that evening. He was happy to meet us on Thursday in Ullapool between 08:30 and 09:00 and discuss what we wanted doing.

 

We had a good meeting, and it turned out that the tides were perfect for hauling Robinetta out at the yard either that evening or Friday morning. Julian and I needed to head south to fetch our car so we could clear Robinetta's cabin, and the best bus to take us left Ullapool at 10:00. We would not be able to get back until Friday afternoon...

Not a problem. We left Robinetta in Tim's capable hands, and he moved her and Worm to his yard, where we found them on Friday afternoon. Robinetta was already under cover, with her mast out (less work for us)!

 

I will update the blog with progress on the work, but meanwhile our Year End totals this year are

Distance traveled 555nm

hours under way 175

Engine hours 108

Northerlies

Yesterday, neither of us had any appetite for sailing in the rain. But we knew today wouldn't be perfect for heading north. The Inshore Waters Forecast had been for north or north-easterly winds but not much of anything and Windy had said there might be some big gusts on the nose.

But all the forecasts agreed it would be dry. I wanted to start early and we got off the pontoon at 7:25 in brilliant sunshine and a glassy calm.

 

Passing the houses by the shore south of the harbour made me think of the houses on the islands on the west coast of Greenland we had seen a year ago on Tecla. It's a very similar landscape.

  

The population of the highlands is tiny compared to 200 years ago before the clearances but still large in comparison to Greenland. The village of Gareloch is bigger than anything we saw in Greenland outside the 'cities' of Nook and Ilulissat. Of course, Gareloch relies heavily on the tourist trade, just like Greenland.

We motored out past ship island (Longa) and got a much stronger breeze than I had been expecting. It was north-easterly but had enough east in it that we could sail by heading a little out to sea. There were many crab pots but at least the ones we saw were well marked. As we left Loch Gairloch we were doing over 4 knots with an arrival time of around 5pm but that soon dropped to 2-3 knots.

Robinetta's main sail has been setting nicely all year and the new topping lifts are working well.

The weather was really clear and we could make out the Shiants and the north of Skye and the hills of Harris and Lewis. We were sure we could see further south past Skye to the Uists too but I'm not certain. It's hard to get a good sense of scale at that distance.

Most of the time, the chart plotter predicted we would get to Ullapool in daylight. But sometimes in the lulls it was way out to the small hours! But the sailing was so nice we didn't mind. We were really happy we'd had the day ashore yesterday. The views north towards Assynt are spectacular. Those are very tall mountains.

The patch on Worm was working too. Every now and then we pulled her close to check no water was coming in.

Windy had predicted more wind later in the day and so it proved. By the time we were passing Loch Ewe it was time to put a reef in. We weren't going very fast over the ground because the wind really was coming from where were were trying to get, but it was too strong for comfort with full main. This was also the time of day of the strongest foul tide. On the north side of Loch Ewe we found we really couldn't make any headway at all. On one tack we were being pushed into the loch and on the other we were being dragged back towards Skye!

We could have anchored to wait for the tide but, as usual, we just put the engine on and motored to Greenstone Point. Once we were no longer embayed, we could turn the engine off again and sail into Loch Broom. That was our last tidal gate of the voyage!

I feel a little guilty we didn't take pictures in Loch Broom. Hopefully we will get another chance. The views, especially to the south and east are very special and different to any that can be had from the land.

The south side of the outer loch isn't very easy to work out what's where. Of course its easy with the chart plotter but I still had some difficulty matching the entrance to Little Loch Broom on the plotter with what I could see on the water.

By 6pm, the wind was dying, and even shaking the reef out couldn't make our predicted arrival time earlier than about 10pm. Alison had phoned the harbour and we knew we were expected so that wasn't a problem but we realised we had a mutual desire for some chips! I found that the Seaforth chip shop is the latest opening and it stops serving at 9pm. Time for the engine! In fact, the wind died completely less than 1/2 an hour after we started the engine so we didn't lose much sailing.

We'd been told to go onto the hammerhead as they weren't sure how much space there would be in the visitors area but as we came in we were guided to a finger. We tied up quickly and the engine went off at 12 minutes past 8. Plenty of time to get to the chip shop!

Only 2 miles from our final destination of Johnson and Loftus' yard.

Flowerdale

 We had two options:

• fix Worm and head to Ullapool
• fix Worm and have a day ashore
  

The day was set to be grey and perhaps wet but with favourable winds. A late departure would not be bad for the tides. So my head was for the first option. But neither of us were especially keen.

But first I needed to do something about Worm. She was taking on water through a gash in the garboard strake. This had almost certainly happened in the Crinan Canal. I put a new blade on the junior hacksaw and cut a pied of 8 mm ply to fit and glued it on the inside using Gorilla Glue. The instructions said to apply pressure for two hours. The only way to apply pressure was with weights but we needed to get the plank level. Propping it up against the electrical pillar with a bucket under the quarter just about worked. I put the anvil and the 5 l diesel can on top of the patch and hoped no-one would knock it off.

It all seemed to work. Once the initial 2 hour cure was over, I turned Worm over and filled the outside of the gash with putty. I didn't know if that would stay in place in the water but it wouldn't do any harm.

Then I filleted the remaining mackerel and we had those for lunch. A young herring gull could obviously smell the remains in the cockpit where I'd done the fillteting.

 

After lunch we went for a walk. The weather was better than expected and stayed dry.

 

Fishing, weed, and more Worm

After visiting the harbour master, the showers, and the co-op we turned the engine on and launched Worm from her upside down position on the pontoon. We could feel the effect of the tide as we motored out of Loch Alsh and under the Skye bridge at 09:10: 1 knot against us, and a lot of swirls in the water that made keeping Robinetta straight a challenge.

Once clear of the bridge we set “George” to work. Visibility was so poor that we could not see Skye, or the Crowlins, and George could steer straighter than any human in the flat seas. We were afraid that we would be motoring all the way to the Gairloch. There was a lot of weed floating in the water, and crab pots to dodge, but with George working this was a one person job. Letting the other stay below in the dry.

The drizzle was persistent until the cloud lifted a little just off the Crowlins. There were seals about, and Julian started thinking about trailing the mackerel line later. I thought that this would be a good spot to try, so we cut the engine revs until we were going at 2 knots. Our first haul of the line had one mackerel on it, that escaped the hook before we could bring it on board, but we managed to get another on our second try. There were dolphins about, more interested in hunting than in us, so we were not sure if we should try the line again, but they seemed to loose interest so Julian let it out again. This time we caught 3, and decided that would be enough for us.

About half an hour after throttling up the engine missed a beat, and I immediately came back to neutral. It kept going so I throttled back up again, but the engine would not come up to full revs. Going into reverse worked as expected, but in forward gear the engine was struggling. We seemed to have something round the prop.

Reversing did not clear it, and we could see weed trailing from the depth sounder. We can not reach the prop with the boat hook from on board, so we turned the engine off, leaving George to keep us heading as straight as possible on staysail and mainsail. We pulled Worm alongside, and I got in, noticing that there was more water in her than the drizzle could explain.

I unhooked the weed from the depth sounder, and also knocked off a big chunk of barnacles. Poking around this the long boat hook freed up the weed from the prop, and when I was certain I could not feel anything else to pull free I decided the job was done. I had had to sit in the bottom of Worm to reach low enough to reach the prop, so my sailing trousers were sodden, as were the jeans they were supposed to protect.

The water in Worm worried me, and I decided to bail her, and suggested getting the towing pump set up. Julian agreed, and while he was getting that out I bailed. Quite soon I noticed that there was water flowing in, though a gash in the plywood. When Worm was dry this gash was above her unladen waterline, but as soon as anything made her sit lower she would let in water. The mystery of why she almost swamped on the way to the Sound of Sleat was explained.

There was nothing we could do about the problem until we reached port, so we rigged the towing compression pump, making sure it would work properly. I came back on board, and we realised that George had been doing a good job of keeping Robinetta safe. There was even enough wind to sail slowly, so once we checked that I had indeed cleared the prop we set the sails properly for a run, and once I had got dry I took the helm while Julian cleaned two of the mackerel and cooked them for lunch.

After a slow, but quiet hour the wind had died and we decided we should get going again under motor. We set George to work again, but he kept jumping off the tiller, and we realised that the sea state had increased. That is what happens when sea state comes up gradually. People do not notice, but machines do. It also started to rain hard, and persistently.

By 15:33 the wind had risen enough to sail, this time coming from the North West and we turned the engine off, then in another 45 minutes we needed to reef. An hour later the reef came out, and the engine went on. And it was still raining.

We did get another hour’s sailing, in the rain, as we came round the headland and into the Gairloch, but we were both cold and wet, and glad to get the sails down and head for the Flowerdale pontoon. There were two yachts already in, so we moored up on the larger one, and got Worm onto the pontoon. The compression pump had been working, but there was still about 4 inches of water in her.

We tried hooking up the electric, but the nearest outlet needed a card to access it, and our cable would not reach the one designated for visitors. No electric heater to dry out the cabin! We retreated into Robinetta, and got out our Dometic Spirit heater. We have to keep a through draft going for this to burn safely, but it did warm up the cabin and dry it and us off, so we were glad of it.

No pictures were taken today, not even of the dolpins off the Crowlins.

Sound of Sleat to Kyle of Lochalsh

 After bailing Worm we carried on into the Sound of Sleat under motor. I looked up the Antares anchorages - there are more than I would have guessed and the Armadale ferry port had quite a lot of yachts on moorings.

Then I looked out for Sabhal Mòr Ostag, the gaelic college I went to summer school in in July. It overlooks the entrance to Loch Hourn.

This reminded me that I should have been getting registration emails for term 2. I looked and I'd missed them in mid-August! I spent the next hour (probably 1/2 hour!) sorting that and emailing the registation forms and requesting a link to pay and downloading the course materials. My first tutorial is on Monday!

We got some wind then and sailed a bit but it didn't last. Nearing Kylerhea we got dolphins. Probably the same pod we saw in Loch Hourn two years ago but they had a baby with them.

 

Even at neaps the tide took us up to 8 knots at times through Kylerhea. We were surprised to find this true well north of the narrows too.

We texted the Kyle of Lochalsh harbour master at the Kyles and he responded and said we should find be able to find a space on the visitor pontoon. Kyle of Lochalsh lost most of its eating places during Covid and hasn't recovered. My phone told me only the chinese takeaway and the pizza takeaway were operating and I fancied pizza.

We got there in time to order but he had a big backlog. He reluctantly agreed to add us to the end. This turned out to be good for him as he subsequently had a cancellation. A good pizza. New York style, so lots of cheese but very tasty.

Muck. Eigg, and Worm

 After rigging an LED lantern just above the boom as a riding light I set an anchor watch alarm on out chart plotter before heading to bed. That way I would be woken if we moved more than 30m. Given we had laid out 25m of chain we would have to be dragging! Having the chart plotter on overnight also meant I could see exactly where we were if I woke in the night.

The wind came up as expected, and Robinetta rolled a little, but we had chosen out anchorage carefully and she did not shift except to face into the wind. It was not an especially restful night; I wake frequently when at anchor, just like when I had babies to check on, even though I can normally sleep through anything! I woke fully at 06:30, our normal getting up time at home, and put the kettle on for tea.

Rhum from Gallanach

By 08:10 we were ready to warm up the engine. The wind was still blowing quite hard and I had to motor up to the anchor to help Julian break it out. The sun was shining and the decks were dry, which was nice.

South West pointof Eig

Julian had gone onto the foredeck at first to bend on the no 2 jib, but started hauling up the anchor as soon as the sail was hauled out on the bowsprit. That meant he still had a lot of foredeck work to do as I motored carefully out of the anchorage, following our inbound track.

We had decided to head up the west side of Eigg and the conditions as we headed for its shelter reinforced that. Holding Robinetta's head into the wind to raise sail was not easy and as soon as I tried to sail off with two rolls of reef in the main I wanted all the reef I could get.

We reached across the sound of Muck towards the shelter of the Sound of Rhum making 4 knots with the waves just abaft the beam. There are worse places to have them and only occasional splashes came over the bulwarks. I had to keep letting the main out to counter the weather helm. In other words I had the sails set wrong for the heading.

A trip boat out of Oban motoring towards Rhum

As we came closer to Eigg the swell decreased and I had an absolutely lovely 10 minutes on the helm. Julian went below to put the kettle on just as the hills and valleys of Eigg began to affect the wind. Gusts and calms abounded, but we managed to sail almost all the way up the west side if the island.

At this point the wind died. I thought it would come back as we cleared the north end of Eigg. but it was really gone, and we were under motor all the way to the Sound of Sleat. Julian suggested we try out the new tiller pilot mount, and we set "George" to work. He was on the helm most of the rest of the day.

When we left the anchorage I had noticed more water in Worm than I expected, but did not think much about it. By the time we were closing on the Skye coast she was floating much lower in the water than normal, with the bow pulled up much higher than normal. I remembered the water I had seen, and thought it might be a good idea to rig our dinghy pump, so I got Julian to pull her forward.

We realised she was practically awash, and taking on more water with every wave from astern. Julian put the engine in neutral, so we were only moving on reefed mainsail and staysail. We got Worm up alongside Robinetta and Julian held her bow down while I did some frantic bailing with a bucket. "George" ignored all the fuss, and kept Robinetta on course.

Ten minutes later Worm was dry enough to return to her normal buoyant self. It was a salutatory lesson that even Worm will not always stay dry. Once she takes any water more is likely to follow. It would be another day before we discovered what had caused the problem in the first place.

Heading north again

 We woke to hazy sunshine, with dew damp decks and sail covers, and enough condensation in the cabin ceiling to drip onto our sleeping bags. After a cup of tea I moped this up with J-cloths. We left the sleeping bags and dry bags out in the cabin to air: they had kept the sleeping bags dry, but were themselves very wet outside.

We took a walk up to the farm shop after breakfast, and bought some frozen diced lamb to make a stew for tonight, using the stew pack we had bought yesterday as flavouring. The honesty box system works well as the shop is always open.

We were back on Robinetta and warming up the engine by 08:45, and five minutes later our old lady was backing out of her berth without problems.

We got the sails up as soon as we were clear of the North Channel out of Oban Bay, but there was very little wind at first. Then it came in and we had a lovely 40 minutes sailing towards Lismore on flat seas. Such a difference from last Friday! As we closed with Lismore the wind dropped, and our speed fell to under 2 knots. We put the engine on to get through the channel between Lismore light and Lady Rock, as there was a ferry coming up behind us and we wanted to stay out of its way.

Julian had plotted a course all the way to Eigg where our arrival time varied between 22:00 and 04:00, so we were not going fast enough!

Once we were clear of Lismore (and two ferries) the wind came back up and we were able to sail at over 3.5 knots again with the engine off.

As we approached Glas Eleinanan we spotted Provident motoring towards us. We changed course to get closer and confirm our identification and she went head to wind to raise sail before we reached her. We passed within 30 yards of each other (definitely Provident), giving and receiving complements. Julian took some video of her raising sail.

 

From that point on we had a glorious day’s sailing, reaching/running goosewinged all the way up the Sound of Mull. We had the neap tide under us, and occasionally made over 6 knots, never dropping below 5 until we were past Tobermory at 14:30.

As we headed towards Ardnamurchan we saw two fine boats coming the other way. One was a lugger and the other a gaff-rigged yacht.

The noon Met Office forecast had some bad news for us. A strong wind warning, gusting up to force 6 from the South East in the small hours. This made our proposed anchorage at Eig much less attractive, and we decided to head for Gallanach Bay on the north west of Muck instead. This is totally protected from all wind except northerlies (when it is dangerous to enter.)

Ardnamurchan Point made a mere navigation point in the slight seas, although the wind did seem to follow us around it, keeping us stubbornly on the edge of a run when we expected to be reaching. However once we decided to go up the east side of Muck instead of the west we went onto a nice reach. I went below and browned the lamb before tipping in the pre-prepared stew pack, a glass of wine (from a bottle we opened over four weeks ago) and 2 of water. Once it came to the boil I turned it down to low, and left it alone.

Approaching Muck we could see a mess of boats between it and Eig. This resolved into a fish farm as we approached. We tried gybing to pass between the island and the farm, but Robinetta’s speed fell below 3 knots for the first time this afternoon. Given we were only 3 nm from our destination we decided to lower the mainsail and motor instead. There was plenty of room between the fish farm and the shore, but the orange “keep away” markers were quite small, and on very long floating lines that we were careful to avoid. Once round the north end of Muck the fish farm vanished behind us.

Once we were at the reefs that fringed Gallanach Bay we turned off our chart plotter pilotage, and Julian pulled up the Antares Charts on his phone. These are much more accurate than anything based on Admiralty plots. I prepared the anchor while Julian brought us through the reefs, and we anchored in 6m under the keel, with 25 metres of chain at 19:00.

Our stew was ready to eat, with succulent meat and thick sauce, full of barley and vegetables. Our only quibble would be that it was a little salty for our palate. A glass of wine, left over from our meal yesterday, and biscuits and cheese to follow all eated in the cockpit made a lovely end to the day. Once the sun fell below the horizon we went below to listen to the promenade concert. A lovely end to a lovely day.